When I entered Congress in 1995, the dominant debate in the nation's Capitol was about how to balance the federal budget. Since then, the hard work of American taxpayers and the fiscal restraint of Congress have led to a healthy budget surplus. Now the President and Congress are debating what to do with this surplus of tax dollars.

Last year, we began setting aside the Social Security surplus, thereby reducing the federal debt. This year we should work to restore fairness to the U.S. tax code. I would start by eliminating the marriage tax penalty, which penalizes more than 139,600 New Hampshire couples a year for no other reason than their decision to be married. Not only is the marriage penalty complex and unfair, it is just plain wrong that our government punishes society's most basic institution.

Since 1969, our tax laws have punished married working couples by pushing them into a higher tax bracket. The marriage penalty taxes the income of the couple's second wage earner at a much higher rate than if the spouse were taxed as an individual. Together they pay more in taxes than they would if they were single.

Most marriage penalties occur when the higher-earning spouse makes between $20,000 and $75,000 per year, hitting middle income families the hardest. Furthermore, married families receiving the Earned Income Tax Credit suffer a partial or complete loss of the tax credit as opposed to single taxpayers of equal income.

It is wrong to force the people who can least afford it to pay more taxes just because they are married. We should be encouraging marriage and helping poor and middle income families pursue the American dream. But our tax code does just the opposite.

The Marriage Penalty Relief Act (H.R. 6), which recently passed the House would provide $182 billion in tax relief over ten years. The bill, which I cosponsored, would eliminate the marriage penalty by increasing the standard deduction for married couples.

and expanding the lowest tax bracket. That would allow the average dual-income family to keep up to $1,400 more of their hard-earned money each year. This is money they could use to make car payments, help pay school tuition, or wipe out credit card debt.

Whereas the plan approved by Congress would eliminate the marriage penalty, President Clinton's proposal would leave 14 million working couples with absolutely no marriage penalty relief at all. Moreover the President's plan would provide just $45 billion in marriage penalty relief over 10 years. The Clinton proposal would help only 9 million couples, who would receive only up to $210 in tax relief after an entire decade.

The House has now passed significant marriage penalty relief legislation to ease the unfair burden on American families working hard to make their dreams come true. I urge President Clinton to join with Congress and provide 25 million American couples with meaningful marriage tax relief. Of all the challenges married couples face, the U.S. tax code should not be one of them.